Cops: 8-Year-Old Boy Shoots 90-Year-Old Woman in Head After Playing ‘Grand Theft Auto’

Police in East Feliciana, Louisiana, believe an 8-year-old boy intentionally shot and killed a 90-year-old woman on August 22, reports WAFB.

It’s further reported that the child had been playing the ultra-realistic Grand Theft Auto IV for Playstation III prior to the shooting. The boy shot the woman in the back of the head in the Country Breeze mobile home park about 5 p.m.

The sheriff of East Feliciana said the child originally claimed that the gun went off by accident but later admitted he had done it on purpose. The boy was released into the custody of his parents on Friday, August 23. A full statement from the Sheriff’s office reads:

By accounts of relatives of the victim, as well as friends of the family, the victim and the juvenile had a normal, loving, relationship. Although a motive for the shooting is unknown at this time investigators have learned that the juvenile suspect was playing a video game on the Play Station III “Grand theft Auto IV”, a realistic game that has been associated with encouraging violence and awards points to players for killing people, just minutes before the homicide occurred.